On Monday 16th December this Labour Government published their White Paper on English Devolution, setting in motion a future where local leaders and communities have more of a say over their local area. Merry Christmas, right?
Well, not exactly.
As part of their “devolution by default” outlook, the Government wants every area in England to work towards devolving greater powers from Whitehall and into the hands of local communities, ending a “deals-based” approach.
In what is the largest shake-up of local government in decades, Devon County Council and it’s eight district councils are all set to merge in this attempt by Angela Rayner, Deputy PM and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to “streamline” local councils. This, the White Paper says, will be done by bringing together councils in area in which people live and work, and ending “two-tier” local authority where there are both wider county and smaller district councils at play. This further complicates an already painful headache, with district councils and Exeter City Council overlapping in their responsibility for areas like local planning, housing, and waste collection, and Plymouth and Torbay responsible for all local government matters. Moreover, earlier this year, under this now ended “deals-based” approach to devolution, Devon County Council and Torbay were given the green light to create a Combined County Authority (CCA) to exercise more power over local transport, housing etc. This deal did not include Plymouth City Council.
In addition to removing “two-tier” authorities in England through the abolition of district councils, the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government wants all areas of England to become “strategic authorities” with an elected mayor. The requirements for thus being a combined population of 1.5m or above, which, as MP for Newton Abbot Martin Wrigley identifies, would mean that Devon & Cornwall would become a super-mayoralty.
Another requirement for the formation of these new authorities is the shared identities and cultures at play. Leader of Mebyon Kernow in Cornwall said that the White Paper constituted a “grim day” for the county, and that the Government had not taken into account Cornwall’s “unique historic, cultural and constitutional status within the UK”. With Devon’s population of around 1.2 million, and Cornwall half that, the Government’s plans to merge the two counties will not only distance people from their elected local officials – the exact opposite of what devolution is supposed to achieve – but it will put two counties, each with their own distinct cultures and histories, together as one. Hardly conducive to a better governed UK.
Martin Wrigley has highlighted a fundamental issue with the Government’s white paper on English Devolution: the troubling lack of clarity surrounding the criteria for establishing strategic authorities. The white paper acknowledges that there “may be exceptions” to these criteria, yet it fails to define what those exceptions might be, leaving local leaders and communities in a state of uncertainty. As Wrigley aptly noted on social media, “they need to make that clear here.” The issue is compounded by the fact that local governance thrives on transparency and accountability. Strategic authorities, tasked with significant responsibilities over areas such as transport, infrastructure, and economic development, require a clear and predictable foundation to operate effectively. A system based on exceptions rather than defined rules risks becoming arbitrary, eroding confidence among both local leaders and the communities they serve.
This, I’m afraid, will only leave Devonians like me in a worse position than before, without progress, without clarity, and without bringing power and politics closer to home.
